title: Gene expression differences during the heterogeneous progression of peripheral atherosclerosis in familial hypercholesterolemic swine.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The heterogeneous progression of atherosclerotic disease in the peripheral arteries is currently not well understood. In humans, artery specific disease progression is partly attributed to the local hemodynamic environments. However, despite similar hemodynamic environments, porcine brachial arteries are protected while femoral arteries are highly susceptible to advanced lesion formation. The aim of this investigation was to determine whether artery specific gene expression patterns contribute to the uneven distribution of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in Rapacz Familial-Hypercholesterolemic (FHC) swine.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Histological results confirmed rapid atherosclerotic disease progression in femoral but not brachial arteries. A total of 18,922 probe sets had sufficient signal abundance. A main effect for age and artery was observed for 1784 and 1256 probe sets, respectively. A significant age x artery interaction was found for 184 probe sets. Furthermore, comparison between arteries found a decrease from 714 to 370 differentially expressed transcripts from nine months to two years of age. Gene ontology analysis of the 56 genes with a main effect for artery and an age x artery interaction identified vascular smooth muscle contraction as enhanced biological signaling pathway.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first investigation to report that the total number of differential genes decreases with diverging atherosclerotic disease pattern between porcine brachial and femoral arteries.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Kinesiology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA. bahls_dzhk@uni-greifswald.de
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bahls
authors.forename: Christopher A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Bidwell
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Armando
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tellez
authors.forename: Greg L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Kaluza
authors.forename: Juan F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Granada
authors.forename: Christian G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Krueger
authors.forename: Jess D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Reed
authors.forename: M Harold
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Laughlin
authors.forename: William G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Van Alstine
authors.forename: Sean C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Newcomer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D018450:Disease Progression; D006938:Hyperlipoproteinemia Type II / Q000150:complications*; D058729:Peripheral Arterial Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D013552:Swine; D059467:Transcriptome